Monday, October 07, 2013

Apu-shback against one of my 'Simpsons' death nominees

I could make a better argument for dusting Apu, the Indian-American owner of the Kwik-E-Mart convenience store, purely on the grounds that the ethnic stereotyping of his character comes at least very close to the line of offensiveness.

I thought I might hear from those who find Apu simply too funny to lose, but by the many arms of Vishnu I didn't expect letters like these:

The character of Apu owns a legitimate business; there's nothing all that negative about him, other than the programmers' reliance on a silly accent. Is that why he is "borderline offensive"? If they showed him murdering his daughter via a "family honor" killing, then I would share your concerns.

What's ironic is that if Apu DID have his daughter killed, he would probably hire Fat Tony the Mobster, whose name didn't even make your final list of possible "Simpsons" characters to kill off. This line of demarcation (all too common in the media) is simply bizarre: Apu is "offensive" because of his silly accent but Fat Tony is "OK" because he's crude and violent and hey...Italians are like that, anyway, aren't they?

I cringe every time I see Fat Tony, not only because he's a cartoon version of the crude dago image which is perpetuated to adults in other media outlets (check out the new TV ad for Ally Bank, where a mob dad teaches his kid about credit), but because of the millions of Italian American youngsters out there who watch "The Simpsons" and get their first taste of what the rest of American society thinks about them and their culture. In a word: Not much. Is this fair? Is this balanced?

My hope is that some of the information on the website will finally prove that Americans of Italian heritage have legitimate concerns about the cumulative effects of incessant negative stereotypes---one of which is intelligent journalists like yourself not even recognizing such images as negative. It is such a tangled weave. But, lets' try to untangle it. --- Bill Dal Cerro

And

Not Fat Tony, right? No offensive ethnic stereotyping there? Someday, we hope to elicit a plausible explanation for the Media's collective sensitivity blind spot when it comes to the unending stream of ugly, often bestial depictions of Italian Americans.

That doesn't imply that responses haven't been palmed off on us. We've heard all the claptrap from "It's only a (cartoon) (movies) (TV show)" to "We have to get a life, loosen up and learn to laugh at ourselves" to "Are you denying that the Mafia exists?" Responses that few Media people would dare risk their careers by so cavalierly waving off the complaints of almost any other ethnic/racial/gender group imaginable.

No, we're asking for plausible explanations. Why, for instance, Italian American kids are somehow supposed to be immune to the effects of the perpetual bombardment of the sort of negative depictions of their group that would not be tolerated for a second in the case of any other.

That would be a good place to start. ---Don Fiore, Italic Institute of America

Fair enough but according to the Internet Movie Database, "Fat Tony," as voiced by Joe Mantegna, has been in 26 of 551 episodes of "The Simpsons," or about one a year. Apu Nahasapeemapetilon, voiced by Hank Azaria, has been in 193 episodes, making Apu a fairly major character and Fat Tony a fairly minor character.

Further, "Fat Tony" was killed off a few seasons back (season 22) according to the Simpsons WIki, though he was replaced by his cousin "Fit Tony" who quickly pigged out and became known as "Fat Tony," so....

I admit to not being sensitized to the effects of organized-crime stereotyping in the media on Italian-Americans, seen far more in such movie franchises as "The Godfather" and such TV hits as "The Sopranos." It seems to me that the question about particular forms of ethnic and racial stereotyping isn't whether it's unfair -- it is -- but whether it's harmful; whether it contributes to marginalization and a cultural atmosphere that disadvantages certain people.

Discuss.

Posted at 09:46:39 AM

Comments

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I can state from my own knowledge and experience that Italian Americans are among the most loyal, most law-abiding, patriotic, hard-working American citizens in this land. And it would be a shame, Mr. Chairman, if we allowed a few rotten apples to give a bad name to the whole barrel. Because from the time of the great Christopher Columbus up through the time of Enrico Fermi, right up until the present day, Italian Americans have been pioneers in building and defending our great nation. They are the salt of the earth, and they're one of the backbones of this country.

I can sort of see your correspondents' points about negative stereotypes of Americans of Italian descent in the media. I would note that in recent years, Hollywood has shown an admirable willingness to make mob movies and shows featuring ethnicities other than Italian, including Irish (The Town, The Departed, Gangs of New York); Russian (Eastern Promises); Greek (The Wire, sort of); African-American (The Wire, Boardwalk Empire); Japanese (Kill Bill); and even whites of no particular ethnicity (Breaking Bad, Winter's Bone). Obviously the stereotype of Italian-Americans as mobsters still is a thing, but it's by no means limited to Italian-Americans anymore, if it ever was.

"Taxpayer", when the number of films, TV shows, and other media featuring Irish, Greeks or you name it as mobsters and is entirely without Italian criminals tops the 800 mark, then yoir point will have some weight. Until then, don't go there with us. We've heard this argument, too, a dozen times.

I am not disregarding the depiction of Italians and Italian-Americans in TV and in the movies as violent mobsters. Aren't their stereotypes for every ethnicity? Doesn't TV and other media portray those stereotypes and re-enforce those too?

I don't think the raw number (including low-profile pulp films and movies made in the bad old days) is as important as the number of high-profile recent films and TV shows. What's the most recent movie or TV show starring A-list Hollywood actors focusing exclusively or primarily on Italians as mobsters? The Sopranos? That went off the air in 2007.

I think the recent dearth of such movies is evidence that lobbying by people who agree with you is having an effect. And that's a good thing! If we're going to have organized crime stories, it's refreshing to focus on facets of organized crime that haven't been as played out as Italian mob stories.

I find Indian families to be extremely hard working and apparently well suited to the hard life of running franchises that requires long hours. Is it really wrong to stereotype them as such, as Joe Biden once did?

I see that there was a DeNiro movie released last month that is mafia-themed. I also see that it grossed about $30 million all told, so I don't think it really disproves my point that movies about the Italian mob aren't nearly as prevalent as they used to be, and that Hollywood has actually done a pretty good job of reaching beyond lazy stereotypes, thanks in part to the hard work of people like the correspondents above.

This is making me think of the Simpsons episode where Homer, Apu, Moe and Otto (replaced by Mr. Burns) form the "Pin Pals" bowling team. One of their opponents is "The Stereotypes," comprising the Sea Captain, Cletus, Groundskeeper Willie and the Italian Chef. Apu at one point moans, "They begged me to join them. They begged me."

You know, not all of the characters are Italian. Remember this one (we never really find out his ethnicity, except he is an old white guy)?

"Look at what happened to your friend 'cause you gotta go against the way the things go down. You treat what I try to do for you like ---? You don't wanna work for me, what's wrong with you? And then, you carry a piece, in my house! You one of those burned-out demolished wackos in the joint? You're scary, because you don't give a ----. But don't come onto me now with your jailhouse bull---- 'cause you are not that guy, don't you get it, you -----? You got a home, car, businesses, family, and I own the paper on your whole ------- life. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------. Your kid's mine because I bought it. You got him on loan, he is leased, you are renting him. I'll whack out your whole family. People'll be eatin' 'em in their lunch tomorrow in their Wimpyburgers and not know it. You get paid what I say. You do what I say, I run you, there is no discussion. I want, you work, until you are burned out, you are busted, or you're dead. You get it? You got responsibilities - tighten up and do it. (Turns toward henchmen.) Clean this mess up, get him outta here. Back to work, Frank."

About "Change of Subject."

"Change of Subject" by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn contains observations, reports, tips, referrals and tirades, though not necessarily in that order. Links will tend to expire, so seize the day. For an archive of Zorn's latest Tribune columns click here. An explanation of the title of this blog is here. If you have other questions, suggestions or comments, send e-mail to ericzorn at gmail.com.
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Contributing editor Jessica Reynolds is a 2012 graduate of Loyola University Chicago and is the coordinator of the Tribune's editorial board. She can be reached at jreynolds at tribune.com.